Aba Lapin — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Lapin was born in Taurig to a Hasidic family. The son of Noah, a merchant, contractor, traditionalist and educated, who married Minna Perlman. He was educated at the Russian gymnasiya in Kaunas. Under the influence of the Enlightenment movement, he graduated with honors in medicine in 1893 from the University of Tartu in Estonia and the University of Warsaw , specializing in dermatology . In 1896 he married Fanny nee Frances of Vilnius . Lapin published many books in the field of medicine in the German language , and he opened a private clinic in the city of Kaunas, where he lived and worked at the end of his studies.

Lapin enlisted in the Lithuanian army and served as a medical officer with the rank of colonel in the First World War. After his release he was the first in Lithuania to possess an X-ray machine. In time, Lapin became a wealthy man, owning many properties in and around Kaunas. Among his assets, some of which he inherited and others he purchased, were the Lithuanian Prime Minister's House and senior residences, the District Attorney's Office building in Kaunas, a police station, a detention center and the Ministry of Transportation building in Kaunas. These assets were nationalized by the authorities.

Lapin had three children. His son, Emanuel Lapin , immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1932, started a family and lived in Tel Aviv.

Father Lapin died on February 26, 1940 , and on his tombstone was engraved in Hebrew, " Doctor of Medicine described - but all his days on earth he even aspired to reach the rank of virtue - a human degree . "

Public and Zionist activity

In parallel with his work in the field of medicine, Lapin headed the Jewish community in Kaunas, and was active in Jewish and Zionist organizations, seeing his activity in the Zionist movement as the mission of his life. Lapin attended all the meetings and committees around the Zionist idea that took place in Kaunas.

As one of the most influential leaders in the Jewish community, his home became a club for the leaders of the Zionist movement and various intellectuals who visited Kaunas, including Zalman Shazar , Chaim Nachman Bialik and Shimon Dubnov , who even dedicated the Russian edition of his book, Divrei Yemi Am Olam .

Lapin is considered close to Benjamin Zeev Herzl , and the first meeting between the two took place in 1903 in Kaunas. Participated in a delegation received by Dr. Herzl in Vilnius. They later met at the Zionist Congresses, and part of an exchange of letters between the two is on display at the Herzl Museum in Jerusalem . 

As part of his Zionist activities, Lapin toured with a group of Lithuanian physicians in Palestine in 1932 . During this trip a reception was held by the Health Committee of the Israeli Knesset and the Israel Medical Association in his and Dr. Tzemach from Vilnius honor in Jerusalem. Lapin used the visit to acquire land in the neighborhood of Rehavia in Jerusalem for his son, Dr. Emmanuel Lapin .

Welfare

Lapin founded the Jewish orphanage in Kaunas in the name of the city's rabbi, Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spector , and he was involved in its management in his later years. In 1913 he was one of the founders executive arm of the ICA in Lithuania - "Jewish Colonization Association" an organization that helped ill Jews whose entry to US was prevented. Lapin entrepreneur and founder a number of other organizations and institutions, such as the "Palestine" Society, Talmud Torah in Kaunas, a tavern for the Jewish poor of Kaunas, and in the period between the wars, in 1921, was a member of the Kaunas Municipality and even founded the Lithuanian Jewish Bloc in a similar election. He was also a member of the "Community Committee" in Kaunas (Kovno), and was one of the founders of the "Ezra" and "Trud" organizations in the city and the "League for the War against Tuberculosis " in Lithuania.

Culture

In 1885 , as a student at Dorpat University (Tartu), he co-founded with Dr. Cohen Bernstein the "Association for the History of Judaism and Jewish Literature", which was active until the Bolshevik invasion of Estonia . In 1908 he collected over ten thousand writings from the Jewish community on "Braika" and "Judaica", and together with Abba Bluscher and Dr. D.M. Schwartz founded the Abraham Mapo Jewish Library in Kaunas. The Mapo Library was a center for Jewish culture, learning and a Zionist club, until it was set on fire by Lithuanian fascists On the eve of the German invasion of Kaunas. In addition, Lapin founded and served as the first chairman of The Jewish Ethnographic Historical Society in Lithuania (Kaunas). Lapin also worked with Dr. D.M. Schwartz to rescue Dr. Feinberg's famous library from Kaunas, via Berlin, to Jerusalem (by Prof. Hankich Leva). Lapin was an ardent supporter of the revival of the Hebrew language and its use in Jewish culture. 

Zionism

Lapin was one of the founders of the first Zionist circle in Dorft and one of the founders of the global " Maccabi ". Lapin served as treasurer of Keren Hayesod , donated much of his capital for Keren Hayesod and the Jewish National Fund , and even raised other philanthropists for these funds. Lapin also served as a delegate at the First World Zionist Congress in 1897, at the Ninth Zionist Congress convened in 1909 in Hamburg , at the Tenth Congress in 1911 in Basel and at the 11th Congress in Vienna in 1913 . In addition, he served as a representative of the Kaunas community at conferences around the Zionist idea throughout Europe.

From: Wikipedia